Crazy Couponing

I should start this post with a confession.  I have never… not once… used a coupon - until today.  Not because I wanted to ignore good savings, but mostly because I’m painfully shy and wasn’t really sure how the whole thing worked.  Tragic, huh?  Well, recently I’ve been paying attention to the shoppers ahead of me in line and developed a little backbone.  And since we’re down to one income, I thought I might try my hand at a little couponing.  I don’t know why I thought it would be an easy thing to do... probably because it’s become a little bit of a media craze.  It actually took me a lot of time, research, and planning.  I had fun doing it though and I think I’ll be able to save more money in the future, if I continue. 

I started out with a simple enough plan and a rough idea of what I wanted on our weekly menu.  I have an Excel spreadsheet grocery list that I fill in as the week goes along and we get low on things.  I fill in a menu on the same spreadsheet so I can compare what I’m putting on my list with what we're having.  This keeps the impulse purchases at a minimum.     

  

Then I went to my normal grocery store’s website.  While I do have some flexibility in the amount I spend on groceries there isn’t that much wiggle room, so I only wanted to buy products that we actually use and in a quantity that I can actually store.  Those of you who have seen our house know that’s not a lot of space, lol.  I usually shop at Martin’s or Wal-Mart; I prefer Martin’s for their produce and Wal-Mart’s Great Value products can save us a fair amount. 

I started by scanning the Bonus Buy items and flagging them if it was something I needed.  I put a “BB” by the items on my list that were Bonus Buy and the number I needed to buy and a "C" if I found a coupon.  For example, we like Miracle Whip and it was a Bonus Buy item 2 for $5.  Then, I scanned for coupons on other websites (more on that in a moment).  I found a manufacturer’s coupon for Miracle Whip that was a dollar off a 22oz jar.  Bingo!  Two Miracle Whips for $4.  Now, I know that’s nothing like those extreme coupon shoppers who manage $600 worth of groceries for $5.  For us, though, that’s a pretty good savings on an item we use in a quantity that I can easily store.    

That was one of my better purchases on this trip.  I only managed to get a few coupons together that were relevant to my menu list and several of them were sold out by the time I got there (the hazard for shopping on a Sunday afternoon).  I did wind up with several Bonus Buy items (though many of those 10/$10 were sold out too).  All in all, I got $194.67 worth of groceries for $ 161.20.  I also ended up with some Buy 1 Get 1 Free deals that will allow me to stretch this grocery shopping trip to last me two weeks rather than just one. 

My biggest problem was finding relevant coupons.  Several of the websites I visited required registering (and I wasn’t sure I was ready to be that committed).  A couple wanted to charge me for the coupons printed (a little counterproductive, I thought).  Some of them were just totally overwhelming in size or chalked full of broken links.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be grateful and would love to check them out!! 

A total savings of $33.47.  I didn’t think that was too bad for my first try.